After hitting a few fruit stands and doing the pumpkin patch we stopped at Wy’East so I could do a quick tasting. I wanted to buy a bottle of the wine I bought at my Bachelorette Party wine trip but couldn’t remember what it was. So of course I had to taste them all. 🙂

Well it turned out to be the first one I tasted! It was a nice little wine tasting, very chill because it was just around 12:30 or 1 and not too crowded yet. I bought a bottle of the Pinot Gris.

After that we stopped at the White House Winery for lunch. The reviews for the food cart were good and several people had recommended it for lunch.

Michael got the BLT and I got the Caprese sandwich with coleslaw. My sandwich was excellent! So flavorful and it hit the spot. Michael said his sandwich was great, too. He got a beer in their beer/cider tasting room and we just hung out and ate lunch inside the cafe.

After lunch we grabbed Bella from the car and put Logan in the Ergo and we walked around the gardens.

This parent was smart:

We’ll have to remember that for 5 years from now. 😉

We lucked out on Sunday. It was supposed to rain all day but it wasn’t bad. It just sprinkled here and there. We were able to meander around outside for most of our outings without getting rained on.

They had a GORGEOUS dahlia farm, too! I loved taking photos of my favorite flowers.

After that we made one more stop at Phelps Creek Tasting Room. By this time the rain had hit and it was pouring outside! So a good time to go INSIDE and get some wine poured!

The tasting room is at the golf course near the house we stayed at. It was the perfect spot for our last hurray of the day. I think the rainy weather had scared everyone else away, too, because we basically had the tasting room to ourselves. Another older couple joined us. They were members of the wine club and so we got to try some tastes of wines only members get just because it was just the 4 of us. Winning!

I ended up buying a bottle of Pinot Noir that we both liked and it was just a fun way to spend the late afternoon. The other couple was chatty and friendly and he convinced me to taste their Chardonnay even though I do not like Chardonnay. I guess Phelps Creek does it in steel barrels instead of oak so it doesn’t taste like a buttery Chardonnay (which I dislike). And he was right! It was quite tasty.

It was time to go back to the house. I wanted a little down time to relax so I got to soak in the clawfoot tub at the house:

I put on some Sarah Vaughn on Spotify and relaxed in a bathtub that I can actually fit into! I hate that our bathtub at home is so tiny. Someday….

Michael went out to pick up dinner at Double Mountain Brewery and we settled in to watch the 2nd Presidential Debates with our pizza. The pizza was just ok. We both remembered it being better last time we had it. Not sure what happened there.

Monday we awoke to sunshine and warmer weather! Thank goodness. I was looking forward to it not raining.

We packed up and then went to breakfast at Bette’s Place in downtown Hood River. The restaurant we wanted to go to was packed and so we tried this place and it was good! We got seated right away and the food came out fast.

I wanted some comfort food so I got the French toast with a sausage patty (which was huge!). Then we went for a hike. Logan’s first hike!

I had a list of a few nearby hikes in Hood River. Since it was our first time trying a hike with the baby I wanted something easy and fairly flat and not too muddy. We lucked out with Indian Creek Trail.

It was a short hike, but it was perfect for what we were looking for as a beginning outing with Logan.

Look at Bella:

She says HURRY UP! LET’S GO!

It was a good little trail. It was pretty flat but had some easy climbs here and there. It wasn’t muddy or rocky. It was a great trail running path and we saw a bunch of runners with their dogs.

Logan did great for his first hike! He looked around at the trees and wasn’t fussy. Then he fell asleep and pretty much slept on daddy for the whole thing. 😉

There were some great views of the Hood River below. It was such a gorgeous (and warm) fall day! The perfect day for a hike.

We ended up doing around 2 miles. We got to what looked like the end of the trail and turned around.

After that we loaded everyone back in the car and drove back to Portland. It was a good little trip. The house we stayed in was the perfect location and it was really cute. I don’t know that we’d stay there again (the bed was REALLY uncomfortable) but the rest of the house was perfect for us.

We had a good time doing a little wine tasting, doing some kid stuff and a hike. All around a good first family vacation! It definitely wasn’t a relaxing weekend getaway like we used to have–and maybe this is now our norm?? But it was still a fun trip. I also bought 4 pounds of apples at the Packard Orchard that I turned into applesauce! More on that soon.

Michael says I need to adjust my expectations for things now that we have a baby. Probably good advice. Over the weekend we went to Hood River with Bella and Logan–our first big family trip. We booked it over a month ago as a getaway, a family trip and an excuse to pick up our case of wine from Cathedral Ridge for our quarterly member pickup. And it took a ridiculous amount of time to pack everything and the car and hit the road AND we had to pack a ridiculous amount of stuff for one weekend away! I certainly need to get used to THAT fact for sure.

We booked a little house in Hood River that was about 5 minutes from a few of our favorite wineries. The location of the house was perfect! So close to wine tasting, close to downtown Hood River and on the Fruit Loop.

We were a little early for check-in on the house so we went to Cathedral Ridge to pick up our wine and I got to do a little wine tasting! (We went to Cathedral Ridge back in August and I think that was the first time we’d been wine tasting in almost 2 years!) I was really looking forward to this!

Since we’re members we got to do our tasting in a different room (less crowded–mega benefit right there!), we got a tasting plate to pair with the wines and we could basically try anything we wanted. I’m glad we did because we ended up swapping out the Zinfandel for a Barbera Reserve that was fantastic!

After the tasting we hung out outside for a little bit and enjoyed the early Fall sunshine and warmth. Logan was doing great and not too fussy or bored.

After that we went to the house and got unpacked and settled and then Michael walked a few blocks to pick up take out Mexican food for dinner.

I ate almost half of my burrito but it was really big! The Mexican food was just ok–nothing outstanding but it had good veggies inside. We called it an early night because we were both tired and I had been sick earlier in the week and still wasn’t feeling fantastic.

Sunday we got up and Michael made us breakfast as I planned out our day. The Fruit Loop/Wine tasting map that you get anywhere in Hood River is super helpful and makes it easy to plan your day! It’s like a 35 mile loop through the mountains and valley in Hood River with spectacular views of Mount Hood and Mount Adams, the hills across the river and the rolling farms in the area. It’s so scenic and you can do it year round–either in berry season in the summer, or go in the spring to see the wildflowers and be sure to stop at the Lavender farms! Or in the fall where you can either pick or buy apples and pears.

They had stuff set up in front for the kids, which we of course took advantage of! Logan’s first Halloween! I was so excited to take the obligatory pumpkin patch pictures. 🙂 He was a good sport, even if he didn’t really smile much. He seemed kind of confused and just curious about everything we saw.

We took Bella with us and left her in the car for the stops along the way that were not pet-friendly. The Fruit Loop/Winery Map does a good job listing out where dogs are welcome and where they aren’t. (Basically if it’s a farm with animals they don’t want you to bring your dog out of the car.)

The Packard Orchard stand had a bunch of samples. I tried a few of their jams and jellies and they had some cookie samples. Mmmm good!

After that we went to a few other fruit stand and then ended up at another Packard Orchard one but this one was bigger and had a pumpkin patch and tons of stuff for kids! Logan was too young, obviously, but we had some fun taking pumpkin pictures! He seemed to like it.

There was a corn maze, too, but it was really muddy so we skipped that. The pumpkin patch looked fun. I’ve never actually picked my own pumpkin. A few years ago Michael and I went to Sauvie’s Island and did a corn maze and it was really fun! When Logan is older it will be an experience we’ll have again for sure. But I do remember that one was REALLY crowded. The ones in Hood River were more low-key.

The Packard Orchard had sooo many yummy treats you could buy. Cookies, caramel corn, any baked good you can think of…all made there and from their fruits. I had way too many samples of everything and it tasted so good. In the end Michael and I split this amazing apple cider donut that was made right in front of us:

It was so delicious! Michael said it was good but he wished it was kind of greasy and fatty like donuts usually are. I kinda liked that it wasn’t greasy. It tasted fresh and perfect and I could trick myself into thinking it was healthy. 😉